Will McDonald, Channel 9 Newsreader and Prostate Cancer Patient

After his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2019, Will McDonald never thought that at the age of 42, he would find himself in the same position. Throughout his treatment, Will has attributed his mental and physical resilience to his commitment to following an active, healthy lifestyle, and the support of his family. Will is an advocate for the encouragement of open and honest conversations about health, and the importance of men feeling comfortable to seek out support surrounding these topics.

Coming to terms with the diagnosis

I was really fit, healthy, but what I did have is I had this niggling injury in my left hip joint. So, it was something that just wouldn't go away no matter what I did. I had that MRI scan and all of a sudden alarm bells went off, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I'm sitting in the doctor's office and I get described to me the scan and the telltale white lesions from the scan, which turned out to be cancer in my bone. 

We went through some blood tests and we pretty quickly came to the realisation that it was prostate cancer. So, at the age of 42, I've been diagnosed with Stage 4 aggressive prostate cancer, and I had no symptoms of prostate cancer. Everything worked well. They asked me all the questions about my water works and sexual function and all that sort of stuff. There were no symptoms whatsoever, all I had was a really painful hip joint. 

It is absolute shock. There is this disbelief of, "Why me? Why is this happening to me?" But very quickly I did come to the conclusion of, "Why not me?" This happens to people every day. 

You know, I have a really high profile job in Adelaide, I guess a lot of people know that I read the news for Channel 9. Very few people knew at that point that I was in the early stages of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, really aggressive Stage 4 prostate cancer. So, I would spend the days with a really brave face going about my day as normal, presenting the news with a smile or a frown, whatever the story needed. But I would literally get home on quite a few days and barely make it through the front door before I'd collapse into just a sobbing mess of grief and trauma and there were moments of "Why me?" 

But I decided that, that wasn't going to be a good way to live my life, it wasn't going to be a good way to fight prostate cancer. So, I don't know, I guess I just really decided that I needed to get a new attitude and I needed to fight this with everything I had. And I call it a white hot, raging, slightly annoying positivity. I was just positive all the time, and that was the only way that I was going to go through my treatment because I figured that was going to be the best way to, A, live a good life, and, B, put me in a good mindset to go through what I needed to. 

Treatment

I'd never really been sick at all in my life, never before in any kind of serious way whatsoever. So, chemotherapy I started probably six weeks after I was first diagnosed, and I went in on a Wednesday and sat in the big comfy wide chair and they hooked me up to the machine and plugged it all in. And I just decided at that point as well that this was not going to impact my life anymore than it needed to. So, I was determined on that first treatment day that I was going to go back to work in the afternoon and do my job, which I did. 

I guess I was very lucky that I didn't have a lot of side effects from the chemotherapy. I think probably because I was a little bit younger, and a little bit fitter, and a little bit stronger than some of the other patients that might go through chemo. I think that put me in a good position. It was still unpleasant and it was still not nice, but it was six rounds of chemo that I knew I had to have, and I kind of made friends with chemotherapy. I then got to follow that up with 20 rounds of radiotherapy, which was actually really more unpleasant than the chemo. It was every day, it was every morning, it was a grind.

For men who have to go through radiotherapy on their prostate, it means filling up your bladder and emptying your bowel before you can get into the machine. There is a huge mental battle for having to hold your bladder for a considerable amount of time so that you can get your lifesaving treatment. But we made it through, the people at the clinic where I had my treatment were amazing. 

Androgen Deprivation Therapy

The real kicker for men with Stage 4 prostate cancer is androgen deprivation therapy. Basically what it means is that an implant gets put into you and all of the testosterone that you would usually produce gets blocked. The side effects of ADT are brutal and extreme, and the treatment's pretty much lifelong for most men. It's life-saving treatment, but it's really unpleasant treatment. So, the side effects are a hugely long list ranging from increased risk of diabetes, increased risk of heart disease, increased risk of depression, fatigue, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, increased risk of osteoporosis, increased risk of sexual dysfunction, infertility, they're huge. I know that this is something that I've got to do because it's keeping me alive.

Accepting Diagnosis and Treatment

It gets you, it's like, "Why do I have to keep doing this?" There are not many days, but there are days there when you just wish that your life was different and your life was, for lack of a better term, normal. But you know it can't be, so you have to accept it. I have to accept it that this is what I'm going through mentally. 

The next way that I combat all of that stuff is that I have a really good relationship with all of my doctors, especially my GP. There are lots of preventative measures you have to do with blood tests and scans to make sure that those side effects aren't taking hold of you 'cause there's no point of getting cured for prostate cancer and dying of heart disease. 

Exercise as Medicine

The next one, which I think is the biggest for me, is just exercise. I've been able to fight off a lot of the fatigue and a lot of the, I guess, depression that can come with androgen deprivation therapy through exercise. I mostly feel, mostly, and I'll always say mostly 'cause I never feel like my old self, but I mostly feel like myself, like I can do the same things that I've always done. And I put that down purely to the fact that I kept exercising. 

From the moment I was diagnosed, one of the doctors actually did give me some really good advice. He says, "You've got to keep moving. You've got to keep exercising. This will help you get through chemo, especially the fitter you are, the stronger you can be, the better you're going to cope with the side effects of chemo." I just knew that I had to keep moving, I had to keep exercising. 

Exercise for men with prostate cancer has a whole multitude of benefits. Exercise reduces the fatigue. Exercise helps your bones be stronger. Exercise reduces your chance of getting heart disease. And it doesn't need to be extreme, but it needs to be structured. And sometimes you've got to do some exercise, which may feel a little bit unpleasant, it may hurt a little bit, but it's doing you good, especially when you're doing it under the watch of people who are experts in the field of exercise medicine, and knowing what you might need to help combat the drugs or the treatment you've been through. 

Will’s Support System

We got really lucky with little Alfie. Alfie is a smiling, happy, screeching in a good way ball of energy. It's entirely changed my perspective on life, and it's probably heightened my awareness of how important it is that we need to fight diseases like prostate cancer. I know that unfortunately because he's my son, and I carry a fair bit of guilt about this, that I know he will have a higher risk of prostate cancer, but I know he's not going to go through the I didn't know scenario. I know that with the work that is going on in terms of treatment in so many ways, I know Alfie's not going to have to confront the same difficulties that a lot of men go through at the moment. 

Yeah, he's my inspiration, to be honest with you. He's what I get up for in the morning in so many ways, and he's the reason that I do all the things that I do. It's one of the reasons that I wanted to do Ironman, knowing that I was having a little boy and knowing that I wanted him to see that no matter what was going on in your life, no matter how difficult things might seem, you can always do slightly extreme, slightly great, slightly crazy things, like the world is out there to just grab and enjoy and do whatever you want, and I wanted him to see that hopefully early on. He probably won't remember it, but he was in a lot of the photos so he'll know that dad did something pretty amazing. Hopefully he... Sorry, it's going to get me now. Hopefully he... Hopefully he's proud of dad, I really do. This is one of the other things of androgen deprivation therapy is you can cry really easily. Alfie is the inspiration that I think carries me through to make sure that no matter what is going on, that I fight, and that I look after myself, and that I leave no stone unturned when it comes to whatever treatment I may need. And that no matter how hard the day is, that I remember that positive attitude and I just live the best possible life that I can for him, for Samantha. And in some small way, if I can make any difference to someone else out there who's going through a tough time, then it's all worth it. 

How to get help

What I really hope for men out there going through prostate cancer who feel like they don't have anyone to talk to, please reach out to some of the organisations that are there like Lift. The moment you do reach out for help, the moment you realise there is a support network there and you get connected with other people who are going through similar things and who can give you some real information to your worries, the easier life will become, and the weight will be lifted off your shoulders. So, please reach out for that support and help, it makes a huge difference.